Callisto Incident
by NetaSethra
Summary: A scan of Jupiter's moon Callisto has discovered a Golden Age space station. The Consensus has given the Vanguard jurisdiction to investigate. Neta Sethra, a warlock still on the path to mastering her powers, is sent to Callisto to discern what she can. Unknown to Neta are the actions of various factions within the city whom are unusually interested in the space station.
1. Not Alone

Her ghost's silence and overzealous scanning was finally getting to Neta. They had come a great distance from the City, from Earth, to a forsaken space station orbiting Jupiter's moon, Callisto. Days had gone by without any further instructions from their contact in the Vanguard.

Neta's ghost held that something was wrong and that they should abort the mission, return to Earth, and directly investigate the reason for the silence. Neta tried a few times to establish contact but a close call nearly alerted a Fallen skiff to their position. Since then they had maintained radio silence and Neta's ghost had taken up the habit of scanning the surrounding region for signs of more Fallen.

Day after day...Silence and scans. Silence. Scan. Silence. Scan. If something didn't change soon Neta feared she might snap.

Then, after nearly a week of silence, Neta heard her ghost make a strange sound. It was not a sound she had ever heard it utter before. A high pitched cacophony of clicks and chirps echoed through the hull of their ship.

"Ghost?" The small machine twitched at the sound of her voice. They had not spoken in hours it seemed, maybe more. "Yes Neta, forgive me, I was lost in thought." The ghost chimed. It flitted over to her where she sat at the ship's control panel.

Her combat helmet sat beside her on the paneled floor. She liked to remove it whenever the opportunity presented itself. The dim interior lighting of the ship bathed them in hues of amber and cast shadows across her pale face. In the half light of the control module Neta's eyes seemed to glow green in the shadow of her bangs.

Her hair hung at shoulder length. Onyx strands darted out of place here and there. She liked it that way. She thought it made her look fierce, wild, like an untamed light that brought swift death to the enemies of humanity. Indeed, The Vanguard's mentor of newly revived warlocks, Ikora, had seen fit to assign her the call sign _Raven_.

Suddenly giving off more light than Neta had seen in a very long time the ghost hovered just more than a foot from her. The amber light of the ship brightened around her and her fierce guise softened. The ghost that had now been her companion for several years didn't have a face like anything humanoid but she could tell it was looking at her with what equated to a grin.

The ghost continued, "I think I may have found something during my scan, A ship." The ghost paused waiting for a reply. "A ship?" Neta asked unsure if this was truly news to be exited about. "Why so giddy over more fallen?" The ghost tilted to a side as if it didn't understand the question.

"It's not Fallen Neta." Her eyes widened and a sensation of twisting filled her gut, whether from excited curiosity or concern she did not know. "It's from Earth!"


	2. Encryption Patterns

"Don't make any movements just yet," Neta instructed, "Not until we know for sure who they are." The ghost gave a second before inquiring, "What makes you so certain they haven't already detected _us_?" Neta raised a single brow. "They would have made contact if they were a friendly and if not..."

She did not need to say more. If the ship had been hostile and had seen them already they would not be alive. Her ghost nodded in agreement. "Right, so, what now?"

Neta bit her bottom lip. She wasn't exactly sure what the answer to that question was. They needed to know who was out there and why. Scanning the ship revealed little more than the fact that it was a Phaeton-class LRv2 Javelin, built for long range jumps, perfect for scouting. All this told her was that whomever it was they were here for the station.

The Vanguard wouldn't send another ship if communications were down as Neta suspected. Not this close to the original mission area anyways. Perhaps the choice of ship variant would lend some insight.

"Ghost, what is the standard exterior paint selection for the LRv2?" She asked. He was taken aback at the question. "Uh, Black with white accents, but Neta I don't see what-" She waved him away. "Perfect, that will do."

She quickly began tapping commands into the ship's console. Everything was clear to her now. "Alright," she cast a sly glance in her ghost's direction. "Scan for any signals matching encryption patterns utilized by Dead Orbit!"


End file.
